Hell broke lose long before midnight and roused every Japanese soldier in an isolated and desperate struggle for his life. The city was surrounded by great numbers of bandits, peasants and Chinese soldiers eager to attack the hated invader. The guide had vanished, the geography of the town with its intricate labyrinth of lanes was an unknown terrain to the Japanese soldiers, exhausted and sleepy. Their machineguns were üseless in the conglomeration of twisted lanes and irregularly built houses their tank was an encumbrance, even their rifles were of little value. Revolvers and' bare steel were the useful weapons and the bandits had an abundance of these. Four hundred Japanese soldiers were said to have been killed that night and considering their disadvantages and their paucity of numbers, it is surprising that they were not wiped out completediy b* the overwhelming odds attacking thea. They must have put up a brave an? a gallant fight.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.